


À la claire fontaine

by SHolmes2000



Series: Lullabies [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I Made Myself Cry, Implied Character Death, Marichat, Rain, Small bits of papa Agreste and Nathalie, additional optional endings, also: mama Agreste and more death, dont really know how to tag, first contribution, if you squint and tilt your head the right way, take it how you want it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 17:44:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6434200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SHolmes2000/pseuds/SHolmes2000
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Memories of rain and storms for this kitty</p>
            </blockquote>





	À la claire fontaine

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first contribution to the ML fandom. Please criticize, I need loads of help. So small things to warn you about. The normal writing is Adrien recounting memories and talking, narration is italicized and mostly in 3rd person limited. The bold and italicized are the song lyrics of the French lullaby this was named after. I'm sorry if I make you sad, or if you were looking to be sad and weren't, then I'm sorry. Please tell me what I can do better. Thanks guys!  
> -SH

  My first memory of a storm, I'm maybe three years old. I hate it. I hate how the rain beats against the window. It's too loud. Too violent and too much. And if the rain was too loud, the thunder is earth shattering. It is threatening. Threatening to break the glass that protects me from its grasp. It hits against the building, acting as if it can make it fold in on itself. It shakes the ground, threatening to steal it out from under me. And the lightning. It's too bright, too sudden.

 We are waiting, my mother and I. Waiting for what, I don't know. I'm too young to be told such things, but waiting all the same. She holds me close and tears make rivers down my cheeks. My throat is raw from crying. Maman holds me closer as lightning flashes, glaring out the window when she thinks I'm not looking, as if she would fight it if she could. She would probably win. Thunder follows it, roaring deeply; I clutch her closer. She is my last lifeline. I can't let go, nor do I want to even try.

  She hums a song in an effort to try and calm me down. The gentle melody wraps itself around me, running its fingers softly through my hair. I welcome the comfort of its embrace. More thunder and I grip her tighter. Humming turns to singing. _**À la claire fontaine**_ and her voice drowns out the storm. **_M’en allant promener_** and the world fades away. Maman rocks me back and forth. **_J’ai trouvé l’ eau si belle._** I close my eyes and unconsciousness unfolds before me. **_Que je m’y suis baigné._** The last thing I hear before I fall into a long forgotten dream is the tune of that song, still whispering into my mind. **_Il y a longtemps que je t’aime._** A secret of hope in this now dark and cruel place that was once filled with such life and joy. **_Jamais je ne t’oublierai._**

 

  Next I am older. Six or seven. I can hear them from upstairs. They sent me here to get me away from their yelling but they greatly underestimate their own voices. Something about Papa’s work.

  I hide under my blankets as lightning flashes overhead. Even though I pride myself on not being the crybaby Chloe is, tears stream down my face. I whisper to myself the song Maman sings to me during storms. **_Jamais je ne t’oublierai._** Thunder pushes against my windows, but not even this storm can scare me more than the yelling downstairs already has. **_Sous les feuilles d’un chêne._** Papa throws words that I don’t understand from under the pillow, at Maman. She yells back. Tonight, the hurricane of words is the thing that frightens me. **_Je me suis fait sécher._** I still jump at the lightning as it strikes the ground outside somewhere. **_Sur la plus haute branche._** Moments later, thunder echoes back. Words cut like sharp knives in room below me. **_Un rossignol chantait._** I hear Maman yell something vicious at Papa and the front door open and slam shut. I jump out of bed and rush to the window, only to watch Maman leave the front gates as I whisper the next line to myself. **_Il y a longtemps que je t’aime._** I hear Papa and Maman’s bedroom door close. That night I cry myself to sleep. **_Jamais, jamais je ne t’oublierai._**

  _That damn man. She just wished he would listen. Adrien needs other kids his age. Normal kids. She just suggests that he go to school and he blows up. He doesn't know what he's talking about. She grew up like that. Sheltered and hidden away. Homeschool was hell. Old money was like that. Everyone thought she was a spoiled brat. Everyone except him. She fell in love with an upcoming designer. Her parents of course didn't approve. He had never grown up in money. He was hardly home. At least she had her son. His smile was beyond compare. She hated to have him listen to them fight. She was just angry. She needed to walk it off. She'd be back by morning. She wake Adrien up. And he'd smile. But the rain had different plans. The roads were soaked. She wasn't paying attention. The car was speeding and couldn't see her. She was gone before the police even arrived. The man stayed with her. She died crying for her son. She died crying._

  The next morning, Maman does not wake me. Instead it is a woman with red hair. Mlle. Nathalie. She’s Papa’s ‘assistant’. I was told it means ‘helper’. **_Chante rossignol, chante._** She smiles and me, sadly, and says that Papa wants to see me. She takes my hand gently, and pulls me through the maze of hallways, to Papa’s office. **_Toi qui a le coeur gai._** Mlle. Nathalie pushes me through the door and Papa waves me over to him.

  I can't see over the desk quite yet, so I go around. **_Tu as le coeur à rire._** He turns and leans down to tell me that Maman left. That she won't ever be back. He says that something terrible last night and she got really hurt. That she can't come home. **_Moi je l’ai à pleurer_**. He tells me that Mlle. Nathalie will be keeping an eye on me for the time being. He will still call her away often to help him, so I have to remember to be on my best behavior. He says that he loves me, **_Il y a longtemps que je t’aime_** , but he doesn't show any expression when he says it. His face, bags under his eyes from emotion and exhaustion, stiffens as he sends me back to my room.

  I see less and less of him after that. I don't ever hear him say those words again. He becomes distant and what used to be home turns into just another building, the light and warmth all gone from it. **_Jamais je ne t’oublierai_**.

 

  Next, I'm just shy of fifteen. We had just finished our first akuma. **_J’ai perdu mon amie._** It's also my first day at public school and, damn, did I fuck it up. I really was trying to get the gum that Chloe put on her seat, off. **_Sans l’avoir mérité._**

  She wouldn't even look at me for the rest of the day. Before we left, it started to rain. By now, I had gotten over my fear of storms. They weren't my favorite thing, of course, but I didn't cry or jump with every strike of lightning. She glared at the rain. She reminded me so much of Maman. **_Pour un bouquet de roses._** I made a decision, right then, right there. I had to explain myself. So I started talking. I explained how I was truly trying to take it off. I explained that it was my first time in public school. I told her, too, that I didn't really have many friends. I gave her my umbrella, **_Que je lui refusais_** , which closed over her head, ruining the moment. I laughed with all I had. It was the first genuine laugh in years.

  Oh, her eyes. And her smile. I should've known. And then when she laughed. My knees almost gave out. **_Il y a longtemps que je t’aime._** She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I fell in love with her before I had even realized what happened. **_Jamais je ne t’oublierai._**

  The next day, I walked into the class and smiled at her. She blushed and looked down quickly, and for a while after made a point to look anywhere but at me. Did I do something wrong?

 

  _The akuma moved too fast. He had pistols and was aiming at her. She braced herself for the injury. It never came. She was pushed out of the way. Someone took the bullet for her. She opened her eyes. She couldn't even look at her savior. If it was a civilian, she could work her magic. He'd be fine. She just had to get rid of this akuma. She cleanse the akuma quickly, with only a second yoyo in her arsenal. It had not been three minutes since the incident. One ‘Miraculous ladybug!’ later and she runs back to the scene. Chat lie on the ground in front of her, blood surrounds his stomach. A deafening screech roars through Paris. She moves them quickly into an alley in a small moment of clarity._

I’m sorry my lady. **_Je voudrais que la rose._** I should've moved faster. My only thought was to get you out of the rain. Please don't cry. Please. Just smile at me once more. Your smile has always outshone the sun. I need to see it one last time. **_Fût encore au rosier._**

  Don't leave me. The akuma’s gone. Don't go. Don't cry. Its raining. Bugaboo, do you like the rain? Do you like the pitter-patter? Do you like the smell?

  My mother loved it. She somehow smelled like it all the time. But you smell like… Like cinnamon and sugar and vanilla. You smell like warmth and fire. I hope you meet her one day. My lady. Can you promise me something? There's this girl. In my class. She is radiant and wonderful. She smiles like no ones business. She has so much warmth that you feel it just being near her. She lives atop the bakery across from the park. Can you make sure she's okay? **_Et que ma douce amie._**

  May I have one last request before the wound in my chest takes my last breath? Can… Can I see you? Without the mask? I want to see my love’s true face before… Before I … I'm…. Please? **_Fût encore à m’aimer._**

  _How could she deny him this? So she nods and releases the transformation, closing her eyes. A pink flash floods the alley just for a moment. She felt his hand graze her cheek._

  Princess. _He whispered._ Why couldn't I see it? It was so clear. Open your eyes. Mari, please. I want you to see your mangy tom cat. Princess, please. Don't you fret, Mlle. Dupain. Look at me. I don't feel any pain. Why are you crying? The rain can hardly hurt me now. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I thought Ladybug was the sun, brilliant … blinding...untouchable. **_Il y a longtemps que je t’aime._** Marinette, You are the stars and the moon. Beautiful… bright, but you do not dim those around you. You make them feel important… I've wasted so much time. My lady. **_Jamais je ne t’oublierai._**

  _He cupped her cheek and pulled her down to kiss her. As they closed their eyes he let his transformation fall. The green fills the alley. Pulling back she opens her eye to see her partners identity. “Minou,” She gasped when she saw him. She kissed him again. She had been so stupid she didn't even realize. She had been so blind. Adrien. Her partner. Her best friend. Her first love. He pulled back._ Princess, I lo-, _**Il y a longtemps que je t’aime,** he goes limp in her arms. Blood soaking through her shirt, she screams. **Jamais je ne t’oublierai.**_

**Author's Note:**

> Did... Did you catch that reference??? Didya??? Didya????  
> Also the lyrics for the lullaby and their English translations are here: http://www.livinglanguage.com/blog/2014/07/18/a-la-claire-fontaine-a-traditional-french-song/  
> And I'm looking for English and French children songs and lullabies to add to this series cause I kinda want to do more of these. Thanks again guys!  
> -SH


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